


Saturday Morning Cartoons

by YoshiStack



Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: Board Games, Friendship, Gen, I love their friendship with each other, Let them still be friends when everything is said and done, Mario Kart, Mostly just them talking about the fight being over, No Evolution, Post-Canon, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26919574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoshiStack/pseuds/YoshiStack
Summary: Their fight is over, but sometimes old habits still die hard.At least it'll make a great story one day down the line.
Relationships: Jeremie Belpois/Aelita Schaeffer, Yumi Ishiyama/Ulrich Stern
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	Saturday Morning Cartoons

**Author's Note:**

> So, I actually wrote this back in May for something else. It's obviously been months since then, and I don't know what's happened to the project I submitted it for, so I'm just gonna post it now.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

It happened when they were in the rec room.

They had been playing games together in the nearly abandoned room. Both were rare sights; it had been ages since all five of them had gotten together just to relax and have fun, and the rec room itself hadn't been this empty since it opened up. But an extended weekend had seen most of the other students at Kadic going off campus, eager to explore something even vaguely different from the school grounds.

And certain changes in their own schedule recently had suddenly given the five of them a lot more free time to kill in a more… 'normal' fashion.

...Including more time to argue about the results of said free time.

"...Look, I'm just saying. Going from fifth to first like that? Kind of suspicious!" Odd said. He put a hand to his chin and let out a loud hum while he gave Ulrich and Aelita a once over. "Almost like you two were cheating!"

Yumi rolled her eyes. "Odd…"

"You always accuse them of cheating when they win. Give it a rest already," Jeremy explained for her. She nodded in agreement. He rested his head against his hand and leaned on the arm of the couch, already wearing a bored expression at Odd's theatrics.

"It's because they do!" Odd insisted. He dropped his controller in his lap and folded his arms over his chest with a huff. "They always pull something like that. I mean, look! There Yumi and I were, cruising along in first, when suddenly," he motioned toward the screen as it showed a replay of their kart getting knocked into the air just before crossing the finish line. "...THAT happens, and you two just happen to slide in to steal our rightful victory! Just like you guys always do!"

"Oh, c'mon, Odd," Ulrich started, turning his face serious for a moment, "It's not cheating, it's just…"

"...extremely well coordinated teamwork," Aelita finished with a nod. Then, without looking at each other, the two shared a high five. Only another moment passed before the pair burst into a fit of laughter at Odd's irritated expression.

"Well, then maybe you two shouldn't be allowed to work together anymore." Odd muttered. He leaned back further, almost burying himself in the couch cushion, and glared forward at the TV. It was still playing the replay, and he let out another pout as it showed Ulrich and Aelita crossing the finish line again.

"Odd, you ever consider that maybe you never win because you're just bad at the game?" Jeremy suggested when the replay started to loop again.

"Hey!"

Ulrich let out a cackle. "Don't get mad at him. Sometimes the truth hurts, good buddy."

"'The truth'?" Odd echoed. "Oh, I'll give you the truth alright: the only reason you won is because of Aelita!"

"Is that what you think?"

"Yeah! You wouldn't stand against me by yourself."

"Wanna bet?"

"Guys," Yumi interrupted. "I thought we agreed to rotate so everyone could get a turn?" she reminded them, shooting a glance toward Jeremy, who hadn't had a chance to play yet so far.

Odd was already picking up his controller again and gave a dismissive wave as he stared Ulrich down. "Yeah, yeah, we'll get back to that, but this is important, Yumi! The world needs to know who it's true kart racing champion is!"

She looked over at Jeremy and Aelita and motioned toward the others with her head, as if to ask what to do. They both shrugged and shook their heads in response. It was Ulrich and Odd just being Ulrich and Odd. Better to let it play out naturally.

Yumi just sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "Alright, fine, whatever." Then under her breath muttered, "Boys…"

Odd grinned. "You're going down!"

"We'll see about th-"

The power went out.

In an instant the TV clicked and flickered to black. The red light on the console's power button faded and the vents went silent. The lights went around them, leaving the only light as some sunlight streaming in through the windows. Still enough to see, but noticeably darker.

Everyone went tense as they quickly scanned the room for trouble. The competitive spark in Ulrich and Odd's eyes vanished and was quickly overtaken by concern. Odd even jumped to his feet, letting his controller fall to the ground without a second thought. All eyes were on Jeremy as he reached around the arm of his couch for his laptop.

It was about halfway through booting up before a realization dawned on him. "Wait…"

They didn't need to do this. There was nothing to be worried about. Their fight had finished already. XANA was gone

They'd won.

Slowly, the realization hit the others as well. A wave of relief washed over them all, but so did a wave of embarrassment.

Yumi stared down at the floor while Aelita fiddled with some loose threads on the couch. Ulrich mindlessly thumbed over some of the buttons on his controllers. And if anybody had any thoughts on Jeremy still opening up the superscan, just to be absolutely certain, they didn't voice them.

It came back clean, of course.

Odd was the first to break the silence. "Old habits die hard, huh?" he let out an forced sounding laugh and rubbed at the back of his neck. He perched himself back where he'd been sitting before, though now much closer to the edge of the couch.

The tension started to melt away after that. "Guess it's too much to hope for things to go back how they were before so soon," Jeremy noted. He closed his laptop and quietly slipped it back into his bag.

"How long has it been anyway?" Ulrich asked.

"A month," Aelita said. It was so quiet, it was somewhat startling. They saw her looking down towards the floor. She lifted her head to match their gazes. "A month and two days, to be exact,"

A beat of silence passed.

"It's kind of crazy that it's only been a month. It kind of feels like it's been way longer and also way shorter, y'know?" Ulrich said. "I mean, just a month ago, we were fighting against monsters, wrecking supercomputers around the world, exploring the net, and now we're…" he motioned around them, but couldn't find the right words to say.

"Just hanging out?" Odd threw out, and Ulrich nodded.

"Yeah. That. Just… being 'normal'." He said the word as if it was foreign to him, because that's what it felt like. They'd wanted to return to it for so long but... what did normal even mean for a group like them anymore?

He certainly didn't know.

"It's not like we never did when it was going on," Odd reminded him.

"Yeah, but now it's… it's different. Now, sometimes it's like it never even happened," he countered.

"Life goes on," Yumi shrugged.

"It does," Jeremy agreed, "But still, it's... well…" he clicked his tongue as he tried to gather his thoughts. "Well, I said this to Aelita before we had to do that last return trip, ironically enough, but it is kind of crazy to think about how much we did, and that nobody's ever gonna know about it." He pulled off his glasses to wipe some dust off and continued, "It's like Ulrich said: for most people, what we did never even happened,"

"Not like anyone would believe it, even if we did tell them," Odd pointed out. "When we talk about it, Lyoko does still sound like a giant video game. It'd make for great fiction," he said. Everyone nodded. "...I'd play it,"

"Of course you would," Jeremy said in an unsurprised tone. "Although, speaking of games…"

"Looks like your rematch'll have to wait," Ulrich said, nudging Odd's controller that was still on the ground.

"Yeah, bummer. You're spared from humiliation for another day," Odd said, and hopped up to pick up his controller. He grabbed the other three and placed them on the TV stand. "Guess we'll have to figure out something else to do then. Any ideas?"

"I'm pretty sure Jim said before that there's some board games in here?" Yumi suggested. No one else said anything in opposition.

"Well, it's better than nothing I guess' Odd shrugged and walked over to the shelf to peruse their options. "Let's see what we've got…" He hummed quietly to himself as he started pulling boxes out to look at them. He started to gather a few in his arms, and within minutes he had a small collection piled precariously in his arms.

He continued on in relative silence for a few minutes. It reminded them all of their earliest days in their fight against XANA, long before they'd learned of the supercomputer's creator and the complicated history of it. Sometimes, they would just pile together in Jeremy's room, sometimes to chat, but often just to enjoy a sense of peace in their newly chaotic lives.

It was… nice, to still be able to get that sense, even now. When things were supposedly 'normal' again.

Aelita was the one to break it. Now was as good a time as any, she figured. She gave a quick glance around at everyone with clenched fists, took in a deep breath, and then relaxed them again as she tried to calm herself.

"You know… I've thought about it before," she suddenly spoke up. Everyone looked over at her, surprised. "About telling others. About what we went through… l-like as a book, or something in the future," she hastily amended before anyone could react. She stared down at her fingers and started twiddling them together, and missed the shared looks the others were giving each other.

"It'd have to be fiction of course, but like you said it's already far from normal anyway. A million details would have to change, like the names of almost everything and everyone but…" Her mouth felt dry as she stopped to gather her thoughts. She swallowed, then tried to continue, "Since… since Lyoko is gone now, and he… didn't make it, I thought it might be nice to have something to remember him for later…" She stopped, realizing she was starting to ramble. She kept her head down as concern started to grip her again.

She startled when she felt a hand overlayed on top of one of her own. Her fingers, which had been running over the couch cushion, stilled. She looked up.

Jeremy gave her a gentle, reassuring smile. "Aelita, I think it's a great idea," he said, "And if you wanted, I'd be happy to help out with it." She heard the others all let out their own noises of approval. Looking around, she saw similar, positive expressions from them all.

"Absolutely,"

"One hundred percent, Princess,"

"Yeah, totally," Odd glanced back with a grin. The piled of games nearly toppled over, but he quickly readjusted to keep them balanced. "I mean, how else are you gonna get all the details of my daring heroics right?"

Ulrich raised a brow. "Your 'heroics' huh? You mean like the time you fused with Kiwi? I'm sure she'd love to get all the details on that just right," He laughed when Odd glared at him.

She let out a small laugh of her own at their antics. "Thank you," she said. Her shoulders dropped, no longer feeling so tense. She felt Jeremy give her hand a small squeeze, and she gave him a small, but genuine smile.

Odd moved away from the shelf with his stack and plopped down in front of the couch to lay them out. He put the back of his hand to his forehead and let out a dramatic sigh. "Anyway, I just hope you don't forget about us all on your road to stardom,"

She let out a confused sound. "'My road to stardom'?" she echoed, tilting her head.

"Well, yeah," Odd shrugged as if it was obvious. "First you're the best opening act the Subdigitals could ever want, then you become the best selling author of a fantastic sci-fi novel. Once the movie deal on that closes, it's all over for the rest of us."

"Oh, stop it," she felt her face go warm, and she picked up a nearby couch pillow to throw at him. He batted away, a smirk still plastered on his face. "It's only an idea right now, anyway. And besides, I could never forget about you all, even if I wanted to. You've all done too much for me to just go and do that," she gave a sideways glance at Jeremy. "I wouldn't even be here right now, if someone hadn't found the supercomputer in the first place,"

Jeremy jumped, startled by the praise. He drew his hand back and scratched at the back of his head, not quite meeting her gaze anymore. He let out an awkward laugh, then moved down to the floor with Odd to start looking through the games he'd picked out, keeping his head ducked down to hide the blush that was creeping in.

Ulrich smirked. "Still, Odd may have a point about a movie deal. All the good books get made into movies now." He paused as an idea came over him. "And if it's a sci-fi story, maybe Finson can be the director," he laughed.

Yumi scrunched her nose up at the mention of him. "Ugh, don't remind me about him. He was weird."

"And besides, you'd want this theoretical movie to actually be good, right?" Jeremy said. He grabbed at one of the card game boxes and made a confused face. "What the heck is 'Dos'?"

"Why, Einstein, it means two in Spanish. I know you're a washout in foreign languages, but come on!" Odd flashed him a toothy smile while Jeremy rolled his eyes. He plucked the box from Jeremy's grasp and looked at the back, then frowned. "Ugh, gross. There's math involved in it. Never mind." He tossed it back into the pile unceremoniously. "And Finson would be awful. He'd derail the whole thing by focusing more on your guys disaster of a relationship to force it to be a trilogy,"

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Yumi asked. She spoke in a low, eerily calm tone, and her arms were folded across her chest as she stared down at Odd.

"I'm just saying, how long exactly did it take you two to finally go out with each other?" They didn't respond, which was answer enough. "Exactly! That's more than enough material for a few movies,"

The two of them looked at each other, then away again, blushing. Some things never change..

"Ugh, even now you two are killing me," Odd moaned, slapping his hand on his forehead. He went back to the game pile to sort through it some more with Jeremy. A few two player games, some other more complicated card games that he didn't feel like trying to learn. Some singing related game that not even he wanted to subject anyone to. Nothing too interesting.

"I don't know why you're assuming anything would come of it anyway," Aelita said. "I already said it was only an idea,"

"Oh, relax! It's all just for fun, Princess!" Odd reassured her with a laugh. "And besides, you never know! The things that actually make it big are always surprising,"

"Well…" He did have a point, she supposed. There was no harm in indulging him—at least this once. She leaned back in her seat and thought about it. "I don't think a movie would be good for it. We were fighting for almost two and a half years, that'd be a lot to cut out, even if it had more than one movie,"

"Hm… good point," Odd conceded. He set aside another game that's box was caved in on itself. "Trilogies are overdone these days anyways. Maybe it'd make a better TV show then,"

"You think people would want to put up with you for that long?" Yumi teased.

"People'll put up with a lot if there's enough exciting action to keep em' entertained." he waved her off. A lightbulb went off in his head as soon as he said that. "Actually, it'd be a perfect kids show! Make it a cartoon, even!"

Jeremy was skeptical. "A cartoon? Really, Odd?"

"Yeah!" Odd replied enthusiastically. He stretched a hand out like he meant to grab something in front of him as he spoke. "I can see it now: make our battles in Lyoko in 3D, and our real lives in 2D! It'd be perfect!"

"I dunno. It sounds kinda weird, and… I think it'd be kinda dark. Aren't shows for kids supposed to have like, life lessons and good morals and junk?" Ulrich pointed out. "I think all we'd do is traumatize them."

"Mm. Actually…" Yumi said. She rubbed her thumb against her chin. "I've seen some of the stuff Hiroki likes to watch sometimes, and they can be pretty messed up. I think they've moved on from having to be educational these days,"

Aelita let out a hum. Maybe so, but she didn't think anyone else kids needed to be scarred by the details of her life.

"Well, whatever it'd be, what do you think it'd be called?" Ulrich asked.

Odd paused and let out a hum. His brow furrowed, then his eyes widened and he snapped his fingers. "Oh, I know! Call it, Orlando and-"

"Annnnd I'm just gonna stop you there," Ulrich interrupted.

"Who's 'Orlando'?" Yumi asked, clearly confused.

"Why, it'd be me of course! Aelita said she'd have to rename everyone, right?" Odd replied. "I think it's a name that perfectly captures my essence, don't you?"

"Orlando is a dumb name," Ulrich remarked. He looked at Aelita and added, "That's what you should name William." He got a smack to his shoulder for that, "Hey!" he whined.

"Enough of that," Yumi rolled her eyes, but still had a smirk that betrayed her tone.

"Alright," Odd sat up straight to look Ulrich in the eye. "What would you call it then, if you think you can do better?" he challenged.

The suggestions started pouring in.

"I dunno. 'Return To The Past', or something like that?"

"Maybe something like your father's diary? The Diary of… well, whatever you'd rename yourself to,"

"Get Ready To Virtualize… don't give me that look, you said it'd be for kids,"

"Yeah, I said kids, Ulrich, not idiots,"

Yumi wore a thoughtful expression before she finally said, "Garage Kids?"

Everyone stopped at that. "That one's not half bad actually," Jeremy admitted. Ulrich and Odd gave their own nods of approval. "But, what do you think, Aelita?"

"Hm…" She looked out toward one of the nearby windows. She did appreciate the suggestions, but… "I think… that this is a discussion for another day," she said, and closed her eyes.

They didn't need to know that she'd already had a good title in mind for it. One that involved a memory she held very close to her heart.

One of a tower.

Of an interface.

Of a particular code.

At least… for now, they didn't need to know. It was something far down the line right now. Something to look forward to in the future, when the scars weren't still quite so fresh, and when reminiscing about the past didn't quite hurt so much anymore. Something for when 'normal' got boring again.

As for the present though…

She turned back around to find Odd lifting up a game box over his head while the others stared in disapproval.

"Aha! How about a classic: Monopo-"

"No."

"Absolutely not."

"We agreed never again,"

"You people are never satisfied!"

...She was content to enjoy every normal, mundane moment of it, so long as it was with them.

**Author's Note:**

> God I love the friendship these kids have with each other. There aren't enough fics that just let them hang out and be friends, y'know? Especially after the series is over.
> 
> Like I said before, this was supposed to be with another project back in Spring/Summer, but I don't know what happened to it. I haven't been able to write much lately due to school, so I figured I'd post this by Oct 9th if I hadn't seen anything with the other project. I decided to make it a little kind of fun, almost meta type thing while also just letting them hang out after their fight was over. Lord knows those kids deserve a break after all.


End file.
